Method and Apparatus for Inquiry Driven Learning

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for implementing inquiry-driven presentation of an online educational course. Course content may be illustrated as a course map having multiple content nodes interconnected by indicia of questions relating an originating content node with a destination content node. After consuming course content associated with a node, participants may specify a question concerning the content. The participant&#39;s specified question is used to determine the next portion of course content presented to the participant. Participants may frame new questions, which may be linked to existing content nodes or new content nodes. A participant&#39;s interaction with, and progression through, a course map may be utilized to assess the quality of a participant&#39;s activities.

RELATED APPLICATIONS AND CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This patent application is a Continuation patent application of andclaims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/622,467 filed onJun. 14, 2017, entitled Method and Apparatus for Inquiry DrivenLearning, which claims priority to, and incorporates by reference, U.S.provisional patent application 62/350,148, titled: Method and Apparatusfor Inquiry Driven Learning, which was filed on Jun. 14, 2016.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates in general to technology-enabledlearning, and in particular to platforms, tools and methods for inquirydriven learning.

BACKGROUND

Many traditional techniques for education emphasize memorization offacts and information. However, facts change, and with our increasingaccess to information, such as via the prevalence of network-connecteddevices, memorization is becoming decreasingly important. Meanwhile, formany students, rigid predefined lesson plans commonly implemented intraditional education environments may stifle the exploration of studentcuriosity and decrease student engagement.

Inquiry-based learning techniques have been demonstrated to be effectivein teaching new material to students, while increasing studentengagement in the subject matter and, importantly, simultaneouslyimproving student skills in information processing and problem-solving.However, incorporating inquiry-based learning techniques into formaleducation environments can present several challenges. Thestudent-driven nature of subject matter coverage creates challenges withmeasuring student progress, and documenting and verifying the scope ofsubject matter coverage. Administering a course in an inquiry-drivenmanner may also require different and/or additional teacher training,preparation and expertise relative to traditional content presentationmethods.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention can be utilized to implement acomputer-implemented technology platform for interactive learning thatmake inquiry driven and student-centric learning methodologies moreaccessible, and better-suited to formal education environments. Further,course design methodologies are provided for effectively designingcontent to be presented via the inquiry-driven learning platform.

In accordance with one aspect, systems and methods are provided foradministering an education course to one or more course participants.The method may include rendering, for each course participant, on apersonal electronic device display screen, a course map. The course mapcan include multiple interconnected content nodes, each associated witha portion of course content. Course content associated with a contentnode may be presented via the user's personal electronic device, e.g.upon selection of the associated content node. Upon presentation ofcourse content, the course participant may be queried for a participantquestion responsive to the course content last consumed. In somecircumstances, course participants may select from one or morepredetermined questions concerning the course content. In somecircumstances, participants may frame questions in their own words; theparticipant may then be presented with options most closely matchingtheir question, and/or linked directly to other content nodes believedto be responsive the participant's question. Based in whole or in parton the participant's question, course content associated with another,linked content node is displayed. Content nodes associated withalready-viewed course content may be differentiated visually fromun-viewed content nodes in the course map, via application of differentstyles.

Participant questions may be displayed on a course map in various ways,typically interconnecting a content node regarding which the question isposed, with a subsequent content node having content responsive to thequestion. In some embodiments, potential participant questions may bedisplayed as lines interconnecting two nodes. In some embodiments,questions may be rendered as nodes themselves, preferably distinguishedvisually from content nodes.

Visualization and tracking tools are provided to measure studentprogress through material, and provide students with feedback andcontext for their learning activities. For example, attributesindicative of a course participant's interaction with a course map maybe transmitted to, and aggregated by, a network-connected server. Courseparticipant assessments may then be derived by, e.g., categorizing eachparticipant's course map interactions.

Various mechanisms may also be provided to permit students tointeractively supplement and modify course content as they consume it.For example, a participant may frame a new question, differing frompreviously-configured questions responsive to a particular portion ofcourse content. A report may be generated and transmitted to a courseadministrator, identifying the new question for uploading of additionalcourse content responsive to the new question. In some circumstances, aparticipant's new question may be made available to other courseparticipants for feedback, such as upvoting or endorsement. Reporting ofnew questions to a course administrator may then be ranked and/orfiltered based on feedback from course participants.

Content for a course map may be generated in a number of ways.Unbundling of course content may provide course designers with enhancedflexibility. In some embodiments, a course administrator may select adigital course content node bundle from amongst a plurality of nodebundles made available by a network-connected course content repository.Content from selected node bundles may be incorporated into a coursemap, e.g. via linking with other content nodes.

These and other aspects may be implemented in certain embodimentsdescribed hereinbelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an online inquiry-drivenlearning.

FIG. 2A is a course map with nodes rendered in a first style.

FIG. 2B is a course map rendered in a second set of styles.

FIG. 2C is a user interface for developing a course map with multiplesections.

FIG. 2D is a user interface rendering of a portion of a course map withmultiple sections.

FIG. 3 is a process diagram for building a course map.

FIG. 4A is a process for administering a course map.

FIG. 4B is a schematic block diagram of variable course participantquestion submission modalities.

FIG. 5 is a user interface for initiating a course map.

FIG. 6 is a user interface with mechanisms for user response to content.

FIG. 7A is a user interface for submission of a new question.

FIG. 7B is a user interface facilitating new question submission andconsideration of other participant questions.

FIGS. 8,9 and 10 are user interfaces for responding to presentation of acontent item.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While this invention is susceptible to embodiment in many differentforms, there are shown in the drawings and will be described in detailherein several specific embodiments, with the understanding that thepresent disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of theprinciples of the invention to enable any person skilled in the art tomake and use the invention, and is not intended to limit the inventionto the embodiments illustrated.

Computing Environment

FIG. 1 is schematic block diagram of a computing environment that may beeffectively utilized to implement certain embodiments of the platformand methods described herein. Server 100 communicates, inter alia, viacomputer network 110, which may include the Internet, with user personalelectronic devices 120 such as personal computer 120A, tablet computer120B, smart phone 120C and smart watch 120D. While FIG. 1 illustratesfour exemplary user devices, it is contemplated and understood thatimplementations may include large numbers of user devices. For example,some implementations may include user devices of different types foreach of many individuals around the world.

Server 100 implements application logic 102, and operates to storeinformation within, and retrieve information from, database 104. Theterm “database” is used herein broadly to refer to a store of data,whether structured or not, including without limitation relationaldatabases, document databases and graph databases. Web server 106 hostsone or more Internet web sites enabling outside user interaction with,amongst other things, application logic 102 and database 104. Messagingserver 108 enables instant messaging, such as SMS or MMS communications,between server 100 and user devices 120.

While depicted in the schematic block diagram of FIG. 1 as a blockelement with specific sub-elements, as known in the art of modern webapplications and network services, server 100 may be implemented in avariety of ways, including via distributed hardware and softwareresources and using any of multiple different software stacks. Server100 may include a variety of physical, functional and/or logicalcomponents such as one or more each of web servers, application servers,database servers, email servers, storage servers, SMS or other instantmessaging servers, and the like. For example, in some embodiments,components and functionality of server 100 may be distributed between aprimary web application and a network-accessible API. That said,implementations will typically include at some level one or morephysical servers, at least one of the physical servers having one ormore microprocessors and digital memory for, inter alia, storinginstructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the server toperform methods and operations described herein.

Interactive Map-Based Course Architecture

At the outset, course content is typically developed for implementationby, e.g., server 100 and an associated content presentation platform. Acontent expert may act as a course designer, using the platform tocreate more effective learning experiences. Course content can beembodied in maps. For example, a course designer may then work with agroup of volunteers using design thinking processes to assembleassociated content items, and test each piece of content foraccessibility and to generate natural next questions. The content itemsand natural next questions can then be organized into a map or directedgraph.

Specifically, courses can be structured into a map having multipleinterconnected nodes. Each node is associated with course content, suchas videos, articles, posts, graphs, images and/or in-person experiences.Content associated with nodes can be stored by database 104 andpresented to user devices 120 via network 110. For example, in someembodiments, content items may be presented via a web browserapplication operating on PC 120A, accessing a web application hosted byweb server 106 to present content items stored within database 104. Insome embodiments, tablet 120B and smartphone 120C may executeapplications installed locally on those devices, which interactivelyaccess server 100 and content stored thereon via network 110. In someembodiments, course content may be downloaded or otherwise installedlocally on a user device 120 prior to use.

Nodes may be connected by, e.g., natural next questions, or otherfunctional transition components such as a direct, automated transitionbetween nodes or a prompt for other types of user interaction. FIG. 2Aillustrates an exemplary course map, as may be viewed by a user havingnot yet begun the course. Circular indicia, such as indicia 200A, 200Bet seq., represent nodes, or portions of the course content. Nodesassociated with course content that has previously been rendered to acourse participant, may be differentiated visually by style from coursecontent that has not yet been viewed. For example, the question markembedded in each node of FIG. 2A indicates that the content node has notyet been accessed by a student; thus, FIG. 2A represents a course viewfor a student who has not yet begun a course. In other embodiments, someor all of the course map questions and/or content items may be revealedto a student, even before the student accesses the association portionsof the course. Each content node is interconnected by connector segments(e.g. segments 210A, 210B et seq.) representing, in the embodiment ofFIG. 2A, a natural next question.

A beginning node 200A serves as a student's first encounter with themap. After viewing and interacting with the content associated with thatnode, the user follows any of one or more natural next questions to anew content node, preferably containing a new piece of content relatedto the question that was chosen to access that node. For example, node200A includes a single natural next question 210A, leading topresentation of content associated with node 2008. At that point, if theuser then asks question 210B, the user is presented with contentassociated with node 200C. Alternatively, if the user asks question210C, the user is presented with content associated with node 200D. Ifthe user asks question 210D, the user is presented with contentassociated with node 200E. In some embodiments, users may also ask theirown questions; as described further below, submission of a new questionmay serve as a mechanism to supplement or improve a course map, such asby a course administrator, teaching assistant and/or fellow studentadding new content responsive to the new question.

In some embodiments, the natural next questions from each node—onespreferably tested during course design to indeed be questions that usersnaturally ask in response to the content of that node—are revealed tothe user only after the content has been examined. The map is thusslowly revealed to the user as the user explores the topic. The user isfollowing an exploration of the topic through a path of his or her owndesign. Meanwhile, the platform (i.e. server 100) keeps track of theuser's journey through the map so that the user can backtrack and followalternative paths in any manner desired. In other embodiments, a coursemap may be revealed to a student in its entirety, providing the studentwith context for their work to date. In yet other embodiments,predetermined subsets of the map may be revealed to students at varioustimes, providing instructors and/or the software platform implementingthe map, to control map presentation as student proceed through thematerial.

Other embodiments of course maps or directed graphs may be utilized. Forexample, FIG. 2B illustrates an alternative course map, in whichquestions and content items are both visualized as nodes, with the typeof node differentiated visually by style (e.g. color and shape).Rectangular nodes 250 represent questions, while rounded nodes 260represent content.

In some embodiments, maps may be divided up into sections. Each sectionmay be composed of a grouping of interconnected nodes. In some coursemappings, nodes within a section may be related to one another bysubject matter. In some mappings, nodes within a section may be selectedsuch that the amount of material in the section (or the anticipated timeto consume the materials) falls within a target range. Thus, course mapsections may be used as a non-linear equivalent of lectures intraditional courses.

FIG. 2C illustrates a user interface of a course map builder 270,facilitating preparation of a course map having multiple sections by acourse administrator. Course map 272 is configured with five course mapsections 274A, 2748, 274C, 274D and 274E. Content nodes may be specifiedwithin each course map section 274, and linked by connecting questions.FIG. 2D illustrates a user interface display 2708 showing a portion ofcourse map 272, in which course map sections 274A and 274D have beenpopulated with multiple content nodes, interconnected by variousresponsive questions. Processes for developing course material aredescribed further below.

Course Design

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary process for developing content for theplatform. In step S300, an initial building phase is undertaken. In stepS310, a user testing phase is implemented. In step S320, the course ismade generally available.

In some embodiments, initial building phase S300 can be implementedusing the following steps:

1. Preliminary Step: Articulate the overarching question for the maptopic.

2. Preliminary Step: Articulate the common characteristics of theintended user group. E.g., How old is the typical user? What is thetypical background education of the user? What beliefs might the useralready hold about the topic? Where does the typical user work or go toschool? Where did he or she grow up? What does he do in their free time?What are her aspirations? What does he worry about? What does heraverage day look like? The course designer may write a summary of theenvisioned user(s) sufficiently detailed so that the course designer can“put themselves in the user's shoes.”

3. Preparatory Step: Interview a minimum of 5 potential users—peoplesimilar to those who would use the map once it is built. The coursedesigner can observe user responses to the content, such as: What aretheir first questions about the topic? Their emotional reactions? Arethey interested in learning about it? What have they already seen on thesubject? Do they have any favorite resources? Interviews should beplanned in advance with a list of questions to start the interview offand an established method for documenting the interview.

4. Preparatory Step: Bring together a small group of content experts(e.g. 2-6 individuals having expertise in the subject matter of acourse) to brainstorm a rough initial list of content pieces that attendto the overarching question. One goal here is to collate as muchrelevant content as possible. Begin to identify the key contentpieces/issues that the the user should encounter. Preferably, nodecontent will satisfy criteria such as: inspires an emotional response(i.e. is not “mundane”); inspires an intellectual response (i.e.inspires thought and natural next questions); and is publiclyaccessible. In some circumstances, it may be desirable for coursedesigners to create node content themselves.

5. Preparatory Step: Identify a possible Seed Content Node, sufficientlyaccessible, broad, and intriguing to evoke natural next questions. Havethe expert team attempt to organize the content into a map looselyfitting the node map format. What learning paths seem to lie within theidentified content? What natural next questions might link contenttopics? This map will typically change considerably after user testing.

At this point, the resulting base of content for the map can besubjected to user testing (step S310). User testing may include, in anexemplary embodiment:

1. Have a minimum of three potential users view the chosen seed contentpiece. Ask them about their emotional reaction to the piece(interesting?intriguing? off-putting? overwhelming?) and what theirnatural next questions about the piece are. Reveal your selected naturalquestions and ask the potential users about their reactions to thosetoo, and which they would likely follow.

2. Adjust the seed content appropriately and set of natural nextquestions. Retest if there is a change of content and/or questions, andrebuild the draft map.

At this point, a content map builder may enter an iterative cycle ofbuilding, testing and rebuilding the map. In some embodiments, theiterative cycle may include three steps:

1. Have one or more learners (preferably, at least three) progressthrough the map, just as they would if the map were deployed for generalavailability via, e.g., a web site hosted by web server 106. Issues tobe evaluated during this step may include: What questions did the userswant to ask that were not available? What content was the least and mostexciting to them? What was their emotional reaction to each piece ofcontent they visited? Which paths in the map were most popular? Whichwere ignored?

2. Develop hypotheses on how to improve the map. Preferably, anexperience using the course map encourages users to stay engaged andalways want to come back and ask one more question. One objective ofusing the course map is to avoid leading a user to a preset opinion orposition; philosophically, the desired user experience is notnecessarily finitely contained, but may rather focus on provoking theuser to always have a natural next question. A goal of a course map maybe to help a user formulate his or her own opinion on the topic, onethey feel they can explain and defend, be willing to modify in the faceof new evidence, and so always willing to re-examine and question.

3. Redesign the map with these hypotheses in mind and retest.Preferably, each and every question and content item is tested. Ifcertain paths of the draft map are ignored, this may be an indicationthat those paths should be removed from the map.

When all content pieces have been reviewed and the interviews areprimarily positive, the map may be deemed ready for release to thepublic (step S320).

In some embodiments, it may be desirable to incorporate a mechanism forevaluating student progress and level of interaction with the coursematerials. In such embodiments, course design processes may furtherinclude assignment of points to various content nodes, questions and/orinteractions with the map. The points may then be utilized to develop ascore or rating for each student using the map.

Course Implementation Platform

In some embodiments, course maps can be implemented using an onlinecontent administration platform hosted via, e.g., server 100. FIG. 4Aillustrates an exemplary process for administering a course map. In stepS400, a content item is presented to the user. FIG. 5 illustrates anexemplary user interface that may be presented to a user in anticipationof presenting an initial seed node content item. Specifically, seedcontent node 500 is presented to the user. Selection of node 500 (e.g.clicking the node in a web browser UI, or tapping the node in a mobileor tablet app UI) initiates presentation of associated portions ofcourse content (described further below).

After presentation of the associated content portions, the user isqueried for a response (step S405). FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary userinterface for querying a user for a next question, in response topresentation of a seed node 500 content. The user may react with a knownquestion (step S410), in which case the user is presented with furthercontent items associated with the next node, linked by the user'sselected question (step S425). In some embodiments, a user interface maybe provided suggesting one or more options for next questions that maybe selected; for example, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, the user mayselect an indicium associated with one or more predetermined nextquestion options 600A, 600B or 600C, and the process repeats back topresent new content.

Students may also be provided with mechanisms through which they mayimprove or supplement the course map, e.g. via submission of newquestions not previously built into the course (step S420). In theembodiment of FIG. 6, presenting predetermined question options, newquestion indicia 610 is provided to enable a user to submit a newquestion associated with the current content node. FIG. 7A illustratesan exemplary user interface enabling submission of a new question withina text entry field.

Various mechanisms may be implemented for handling new questions. Insome embodiments, it may be desirable for platform application logic toundertake an initial automated evaluation of the extent to which a newquestion may be answered by some other piece of content already within acourse map. Such a mechanism may be helpful in minimizing addition ofduplicative questions and content within a course map. For example, instep S421, text content within a new question submitted in step S420 maybe utilized by a content-based filter to select a subset of coursecontent nodes believed to be helpful in answering the new question. Theselected subset of content nodes may then be presented to the user forconsideration (e.g. via an interrogatory modal rendered on a user device120 via interaction with server 100), before finalizing submission ofthe new question. The content-based filter may incorporate machinelearning components in an effort to continually optimize matching ofuser-submitted questions with pre-existing course content. For example,a user may be queried for feedback concerning whether a content itemrecommended by the content-based filter satisfactorily answers theuser's question; the user's response to that query may then be appliedas feedback in a supervised machine learning mechanism to optimizeparameters of the content-based filter.

Once finally submitted, the student may be prompted to select anotherquestion, in order to continue exploring the existing course content(step S405). Meanwhile, content responsive to the new question maysubsequently be uploaded to create a new course node (step S423). Newquestions may be queued for another entity or individual (such as acourse administrator, teacher or teaching assistant) to locate andupload appropriate content responsive to the new question, at which timethe course map may be supplemented using course administration toolsimplemented by server 100 to add a corresponding node and linkingquestion to the course map. Additionally or alternatively, the questionmay be shared with other course participants, and another student cansuggest responsive content. A student may also be permitted to findresponsive content and answer the question themselves. By permitting oneor more users to contribute new questions, and/or source new responsivecontent, a course can be continuously developed and improved as it isadministered.

Developing (or auditing the quality of) new content nodes responsive tonewly-submitted questions may require a significant investment in timeon the part of a teacher or teaching assistant. Therefore, it may bedesirable to implement a mechanism to assess the significance orimportance of newly-submitted questions. Once such embodiment rendersnewly-submitted questions to other students with a user interfaceindicium for endorsing or “upvoting” the question (step S422). Courseinstructors and their assistants may then prioritize new questions fordevelopment or confirmation of responsive content, based at least inpart on the number of endorsements relative to other new questions (stepS423).

In some embodiments, a multi-stage process may be utilized to solicitnew questions from course participants and generate new course mapcontent based thereon. In an initial stage, a newly-submitted questionmay first be posed as a comment, associated with a previously-existingcontent node to which the question pertains. The question may be madeavailable for consideration by individuals viewing the content node towhich the question pertains, but may not be otherwise displayed on thecourse map.

FIG. 7B illustrates another exemplary user interface display that may berendered on a display screen of a personal electronic device 120,facilitating both question submission and consideration of questions byother course participants. User interface display 750 includes coursemap pane 752, in which a portion of the course map may be displayed.Course map pane 752 includes node 754, associated with course contentwith which the user of display 750 is currently interacting. Nodeinteraction pane 756 provides, amongst other things, course participantqueues for desired interactions of a course participant with node coursecontent. Discussion portion 758 provides indicia of questions asked bycourse participants relative to course content associated with node 754,including question indicium 760. Question indicium 760 includes questioncontent 761, and upvote indicium 762. Upvote indicium 762 may beselected to indicate participant interest in, or approval of, question761. Display further includes new question submission field 764, viawhich a user may enter a new question, which may be added to discussionportion 758 and commented on and/or endorsed by other courseparticipants. User interaction with elements of display 750 may beconveyed to server 100 for storage and reporting, amongst otheroperations.

Participant questions, along with course participant upvotes or otherfeedback concerning the question, may also be made available to ateacher, teaching assistant, course designer or other courseadministrator. The course administrator may then consider each questionand feedback thereon, and select some or all of the questions to bemoved out onto the course map. Thereafter, the selectedparticipant-submitted questions may be reflected on the course map, suchas via further question nodes 250 in the course map of FIG. 2B. The newquestion nodes may then be interconnected with an existing content node260, or a new content node 260 may be developed, e.g. via researchconducted to answer the question.

Users may also be provided with tools to convey reaction to content,other than submitting a next question (step S415). FIG. 8 illustrates anexemplary user interface. Header 800 indicates the question asked, whichled to presentation of content 805. Button 810 provides a mechanism forusers to indicate that they are done viewing the present content.Selection of Add Reaction indicia 815 enables a user to convey one ormore indications of their emotional state upon consuming content 805.View Comments indicia 820 enables a user to view comments submitted byother users in connection with content item 805.

FIG. 9 illustrates another exemplary user interface that may bepresented to a user in response to providing content in step S400.Header 900 indicates the question asked, which led to presentation ofcontent 905. Button 910 provides a mechanism for users to ask a NextQuestion (step S410). Multiple selectable Reaction indicia 915 enable auser to convey one or more indications of their emotional state uponconsuming content 905. View Comments indicia 920 enables a user to viewcomments submitted by other users in connection with content item 905.FIG. 10 illustrates another exemplary user interface that may bepresented to a user in connection with presentation of content items, inwhich the user has submitted three Reactions in response to the content.In some embodiments, users may additionally or alternatively be promptedto consider new questions submitted by other students, and endorse (or“upvote”) questions for which they are most interested in learning ananswer (as described above in connection with step S422).

Some embodiments described above prompt students with one or morepredetermined questions associated with each item of presented content.However, in some embodiments, it may be desirable to prompt students toframe (or attempt to frame) their own questions. For example, a user maybe initially presented with a user interface element rendered onpersonal electronic device 120, via which the user may submit a questionin response to the portion of course content most recently presented tothem, with the question framed in their own words. Examples of such userinterface elements include, in some embodiments, a freeform text entryfield rendered directly on personal electronic device 120. In otherembodiments, it may be desirable to implement a speech recognitioncomponent enabling a course participant to frame a question verbally;such an embodiment may be implemented via, e.g., a local microphonefunction integrated within personal electronic device 120 interactingwith a network-connected speech recognition component implemented viaserver 100 or a third party network-connected system such as the GoogleCloud Speech API, returning a text-based interpretation of theverbally-framed question for further analysis. Once submitted, thequestion may then be interpreted (e.g. by server 100 or locally ondevice 120) towards identifying a responsive content node. User questioninterpretation may involve, for example, comparison of submittedquestion content to lists of predetermined questions, after submissionand/or as a user begins entering their question, with the userultimately selecting a predetermined question most closely matching thequestion framed by the user.

In some embodiments, it may be desirable to shift the user betweenquestion entry modalities based on, e.g., the user's usage of theapplication and/or performance. For example, users may be presented withdecreasingly structured question entry modalities as the time or successwith which they interact with the application increases. Similarly,users having difficulty framing questions given a current question entrymodality may be presented with increasingly structured modalities forquestion entry until they are effectively navigating the course map.FIG. 4B illustrates an exemplary sequence of question entry modalitiesthrough which a user may be cycled. Initially, a user may be presentedwith question entry modality 470 following presentation of course nodecontent, via which a user selects from amongst a list of predeterminedquestions. After completion of threshold amount of course activity (e.g.viewing course content from a predetermined number of nodes andselecting questions to initiate presentation of further nodes), thequestion entry modality via which the user interacts with personalelectronic device 120 may shift to modality 475, via which the userframes questions in their own words and is presented with suggestionsfrom amongst predetermined questions during entry of each question.After completion of a second threshold of course activity using questionentry modality 475, the question entry modality via which the userinteracts with personal electronic device 120 may shift to modality 480,via which the user frames questions in their own words, withoutsuggestions during entry.

In some embodiments, it may be desirable for application logic 102 toimplement course activity benchmarks against which a user'sparticipation may be periodically evaluated. Server 100 may one or moreparticipant activity benchmarks over time in order to performcourse-specific participant evaluations. Such activity benchmarkingmechanisms may be useful for pacing a class, particularly to the extentthat course activities are largely or wholly performed outside of a liveclassroom, on the participant's own time. Examples of activitybenchmarks that may be implemented in some embodiments include, withoutlimitations, one or more of: (a) a minimum number of content nodes withwhich a participant interacts in a given time period; (b) a coursesection that must be completed before a given deadline; (c) a minimumnumber of questions that a student must ask during a given time period;and (d) a minimum number of question endorsements a student must submitduring a given time period. These and other metrics, in variouscombinations and permutations, may be applied for pacing of a courseimplemented using the systems and methods described herein.

Various metrics concerning course utilization and user interaction withcourse content may also be used for iterative course improvement after acourse is run. Metrics describing course utilization and/or userinteraction with course content (such as what questions are asked, whoviews which questions and content, how many upvotes questions receive,and how students react emotionally to content) may be tracked andreported to teachers and course designers, for use in better informingthe design of their classes. For example, such a report may be generatedby server 100 and conveyed to a course designer via a user device 120.Content items having, e.g., few upvotes or aggregate student reactionsfailing to meet threshold levels of positivity may then be prioritizedfor supplementation, replacement or removal prior to administeringfuture iterations of the course.

Unbundled Textbooks and Course Marketplaces

Traditionally, authors and publishers develop comprehensive textbookscontaining source material teaching a body of subject matter on which acourse may be based. Teachers select a textbook, and request thatstudents purchase the textbook, at significant expense. Thus,educational course materials are typically sourced and purchased in abundled fashion. Teachers may use only a portion of a textbook for agiven course, such that students end up purchasing content not needed.Teachers may also prefer different subsections of content from differenttextbooks, thereby either requiring the teacher to force students topurchase multiple textbooks (at even greater expense), or sacrificeoptimal course materials by comprising on a single text.

By contrast, embodiments described herein provide a platform forunbundling of educational content. In designing course maps, teacherscan select and license for their class, portions of content (organizedinto specific nodes, or bundles of one or more nodes), rather thanentire textbooks. A platform administrator can then act as a publisherand/or distributor of such content, providing a course contentrepository (such as an online marketplace) from which courseadministrators can select content to be made available for incorporationinto a course map. Content nodes within a selected course content nodebundle may then be linked with other nodes in a course map by a courseadministrator, thereby allowing course administrators to easilysupplement an existing course map (e.g. based on new questions fromcourse participants, or supplementing course content nodes prepared fromother sources), and/or create a new course map from selected content.

Embodiments described herein may also provide a new and improveddistribution platform for short form educational content. Currently,teachers frequently select a single comprehensive textbook for a courseto minimize student expense and administrative overhead. High qualitytopic-specific content that is not bundled into a comprehensive coursetext may have limited opportunities for distribution. However, inframeworks described herein, such topic-specific content can be easilyand dynamically bundled in various combinations by a course creator,with different course map nodes aggregating content from differentsources.

Some embodiments of the platform described herein may also include amarketplace component. Course designers may offer to license course-mapsfor use by others. Similarly, custom course map-specific textbooks maybe published comprising aggregated source materials associated withnodes in a particular course map. Such mechanisms provide contentcreators, course leaders and students with high degrees of flexibilityin creating, distributing and consuming highly-customized educationalcontent.

Learner Assessments

Assessment is critical for helping others understand whether a studenthas learned anything from their experience. However, traditionaltechniques for assessing learners (such as quizzes and examinations) maybe perceived by learners as scary, intimidating, or judgmental. However,other ways of assessing learners can be implemented by embodiments ofthe learning platform described herein, in order to accurately representwhat a learner has learned for the learner herself, and forthird-parties.

Learners can be assessed using one or more of the following assessmentmechanisms: (1) Tracking how the learner interacts with the map andcategorizing that interaction; (2) Recording and assessing the questionsthey ask; (3) Recording and assessing the long-form content the learnerwrites in response to open questions; (3) Critiquing the content thelearner writes and assessing their responses to our critiques; and/or(4) Tracking the learner's self-defined goals and their own assessmentof whether they have achieved those goals. Mechanisms implementing oneor more of these assessment techniques can be embodied in applicationlogic 102, evaluating interactions between client devices 120 withserver 100.

These methods of assessment may be particularly important to the extentthat companies, recruiters, and educational institutions are allbeginning to recognize so called ‘soft skills’ as important predictorsof success for their students and employees. Techniques described hereincan be utilized to assess such soft skills, efficiently and at scale.

In particular, learners can be assessed based on: their preferred methodof learning—exploratory, broad overview, deep dive, goal focused, etc.;their recognition and ability to handle nuance in complex arguments;their ability to synthesize their own opinions from a diverse range ofsources, or to put to use newly gained skills or novel uses; theirability to phrase clear and thoughtful questions; their ability todiscuss a topic without unnecessarily attacking or deriding otheropinions (i.e. their ability to hold civil discourse); their ability toexplain how they know what they know; their ability to take criticismand use it to improve their own work; their ability to articulate goalsfor their work and recognize when they have achieved that goal; andtheir ability to improvise in the face of difficulty.

Rather than assessing at a single end point of a course (as is commonfor traditional examinations), learners can be assessed continuouslythroughout the learning experience, taking full advantage of the userevent tracking available to server 100 as an online platform.

Details of certain embodiments of methods listed above are as follows:

Tracking how the learner interacts with the map and categorizing thatinteraction. Server 100 records each action the learner takes whileinteracting with the map (e.g. using client devices 120). These mapinteraction attributes may include, without limitation: which nodes theuser opens, which questions they select as being of interest, andemoji-based or text reactions to content, how long they interact withthe map during a setting, and others. This data can be used to derive alearner-specific-map that details the learner's interactions with theoverall map. This learner-specific-map is included as part of the courseparticipant assessment. This data can also be used to categorize thelearner using machine learning algorithms for categorization. Based onthis categorization, the learner is assigned one or more labelsdescribing their interaction. EG methodical, exploratory, depth-focused,goal-focused, survey-focused, etc. The learner may also be assigned arating associated with each of these labels. EG-30 out of 40 formethodical, 15 out of 40 for exploratory, etc.

Recording and assessing the questions they ask. Every new question (IE aquestion that was not pre-curated by the map team) asked by the learneris recorded. These questions can then be reviewed (e.g. by serviceprovider employees or agents) and rated based on a set of metricsincluding question clarity, frankness, and a number of other measures.Each question's ratings are recorded in database 104, and a graph isproduced showing the learner's improvement over time. In this way, bothquestion-asking ability and the learner's rate of learning can beevaluated.

Recording and assessing the long-form content the learner writes inresponse to open questions. Every custom response the learner writes inanswer to an unanswered question documented on the map—whether their ownor someone else's—is recorded for assessment. These custom responses canthen be reviewed (e.g. by service provider employees or agents) andrated based on a similar set of metrics as those indicated above. Theseratings are also recorded in database 104 and again used to build graphsshowing overall rating and improvement over time. A single example ofthe user's writing that best represents the user's current skill levelcan be automatically included in the assessment as a sample.

Critiquing the content the learner writes and assessing their responsesto critiques. Service provider employees or agents ask the learnerquestions about the content they have produced. The learner thenresponds to those questions with modifications to or improvements ontheir initial content, just like a traditional editing process, but withall versions and all critiques recorded by server 100. The serviceprovider can then review the learner's responses and again rate thembased off of a standard set of metrics. Again, this information isdocumented and displayed as a graph of improvement over time.

Tracking the user's self-defined goals and their own assessment ofwhether they have achieved those goals. The user specifies their goalfor a course at the beginning and optionally changes their goal duringthe course. When they complete the course they are asked to summarizewhether they achieved their goal or not in any way they see fit—video,writing, photograph, etc. Service provider employees or agents can thenreview the learner's responses and again rate them based off of astandard set of metrics. Again, this information is documented anddisplayed as a graph of improvement over time.

In all of the above steps, the learner's content may anonymously beshown to other learners interacting with the same course and thequestions and reactions of those other learners may be used toautomatically rate the work of this learner. In this way, assessmentscan be crowd-sourced, or service provider assessments can be augmentedwith crowd-sourced assessments.

Using the above ratings, concise ‘dashboards’ can be generated thatsummarize an individual learner and work as an equivalent of a diploma.This dashboard would be shareable with future employers and wouldinclude summaries of learning styles, rates of learning, question andcontent quality, and major areas of interest as indicated by thelearner's own goals and questions.

While certain embodiments of the invention have been described herein indetail for purposes of clarity and understanding, the foregoingdescription and Figures merely explain and illustrate the presentinvention and the present invention is not limited thereto. It will beappreciated that those skilled in the art, having the present disclosurebefore them, will be able to make modifications and variations to thatdisclosed herein without departing from the scope of the invention orany appended claims.

1. A method for developing and administering an inquiry-basededucational course to course participants, comprising the steps of:building a course map with linked nodes, the nodes representing coursecontent, each interconnected by one or more links which represent anatural next question for course participants, comprising: an initialcourse map building phase, comprising: articulating one or morequestions defining a course topic; seeding and linking nodes of theinitial course map with questions and content from at least one ofevaluating the test participant group's reactions to the one or morequestions defining the course topic, information from course experts,and information from a course designer; testing the seeded initialcourse map, comprising: evaluating responses from a test user to thenode content linked by natural next questions; and adjusting the seededinitial course map based on the test user's responses, to form thecourse map; and upon approval, providing course participants with accessto the course map; rendering, for each course participant, on a personalelectronic device display screen, at least a portion of the course map,including at least one of a first node question, a link to a linkedadjacent node representing a natural next question associated with thefirst node and to which the linked adjacent node is responsive; inresponse to a selection of a first link by a course participant,displaying content associated with the linked adjacent node on theparticipant's personal electronic device; querying the courseparticipant for input of a course participant question responsive to thelinked adjacent node; and comparing the course participant's inputtedquestion to course map link questions, and if there is correspondencewith an existing link, displaying a content associated with a secondlinked node, and if there is not a correspondence with an existing link,evaluating the course participant's inputted question for addition tothe course map.